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PULSE MAKER INTERVIEW

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Ed Scarborough,
Operations Manager,
KLTR-FM, Houston, TX
 

The
Heavy
Hitter of
Lite Radio
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Q Ed Scarborough came to KLTR-Lite-the CBS owned FM station in Houston in June from programming KKHR, Los Angeles which, upon Ed's exit, became KNX-FM with a classic rock bent. You came into town, Ed, almost six months ago. Aside from unpack the U-Haul and find a house, what was the first thing you did at the radio station?
A The very first thing that happened to me here at K-Lite was that our VP/General Manager Bob Sexton called a general staff meeting to welcome me to the radio station and introduce me to all the personnel. A little background here, my predecessor as PD, Steve Matt, had taken over as PD about the time CBS took over the station, and he felt that he'd taken the station about as far as he could and offered to step down. In a really generous gesture, he said he'd like to remove himself from the programming position and turn that over to somebody who could take the station the rest of the way and would like to continue staying at K-Lite and do his morning show. That's what created the opening here for me.
Q You and Bill Minkler put together the format that switched KKHR to KNX-FM in Los Angeles, but if this situation hadn't beckoned here in Houston, would you have stayed in Los Angeles and run KNX-FM?
A Yes. The decision was mine to come here if that's where you're going with that. Thinking about my needs and the needs of my family, I thought this was a good opportunity and a good time to move on.
Q You converted two CBS-FM stations – St. Louis and Los Angeles – to CHR. Have you thought of doing the same thing there?
A That was the big buzz – that lookout K-Lite – here we go rock and roll. Of course, that was never the intention not is it. Look at all the CHR – there’s a new entry in the market just this month.
Q What’s it like programming a Lite, mellower station? Do you have a playlist of currents?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Sure, we play about 20 currents. But it’s so wonderful not to have the intensive of having to run for a brand new record when it comes out. But sure, we have a playlist and we rotate a portion of our current playlist more often than another portion – we program in tiers just like any radio station.
Q Do you pick and program your music based on charts or research or what?
A We look at all the charts to be aware of the records that are being released and records that are being worked.
Q You say "worked" –I’ll be the first thing you found when you got out of LA and out of CHR was that the record people found you virtually invisible.
A You've got that right. When you're as spoiled as I was by the excellent record service in Los Angeles, you really can't understand when nobody does handstands down here. In all fairness to the labels, I assume our format isn't as important to them as CHR either. There are several labels who do service us well, and there are several who I've never seen or heard from or received product from since I've been in town. I called them, too. I would have expected, though, that the record community would make it their business to visit and find out about any new PD coming into their territory. True, before I came here, K-Lite didn't play a lot of current and new music, but I do and I really hope to see and here from record people what the priorities are. It isn't that we're not worth it either-we went out of the box on Human League, Ric Ocasek, Toto and a number of other tunes that went on to be big hits.
Q What percentage of your sound is hit as opposed to oldies or whatever you'd call them?

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A I'd say we're about 25% current. We've expanded our oldies library substantially in the number of titles since I arrived here, by the way. It's probably the biggest thing I've done with the music.

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